Korea's steel scrap imports plunged 14% in September

BEIJING (Scrap Monster): The latest statistics released by the Korean Customs Service indicate that the country’s ferrous scrap declined significantly in September, in comparison with the previous month. This is the first decline during the past two months. Also, the imports were down when matched with those during the same month a year before. The combined imports during the initial three-quarters of the current year were marginally down year-on-year.

South Korea imported 513,464 tons of scrap steel during the month of September this year. The imports were down by 5.4% when matched with the previous month. The country had imported 542,587 tons of scrap steel during August 2016. When compared with the year before, the September ’16 imports were down sharply by 14.2%. The country’s ferrous scrap imports had totaled 600,543 tons during September last year.

The largest exporter of ferrous scrap to South Korea during September this year was Japan. The imports from Japan totaled 279,469 tons, accounting for more than 54% of the total scrap imports by South Korea during the month. The imports from the country witnessed 31.3% rise from September last year. Also, the imports from Japan increased significantly by nearly 10% when matched with the imports of 255,063 tons during prior month. Russia was the second largest exporter during the month, with 98,041 tons. The ferrous scrap imports from Russia surged higher by 16.6% over the previous year. However, the imports dropped when compared with 110,099 tons during the prior month. The other key exporters of ferrous scrap to South Korea during the month were the USA (58,324 tons), Australia (33,923 tons), Puerto Rico (6,533 tons), Philippines (5,263 tons) and Costa Rica (5,125 tons).

The country’s scrap imports during January to September this year totaled 4,353,674 tons. The imports during this period have witnessed marginal decline of 3.2% over the imports during the same period a year ago. The country’s scrap imports had totaled 4,498,121 tons during January to September in 2015. The scrap imports averaged nearly 484,000 tons during the first nine months of the year. The annualized scrap imports by the country are estimated to surpass 5.800 million tons during the entire year 2016.

The largest supplier of ferrous scrap to South Korea during the initial nine-month period in 2016 was Japan. The scrap imports from Japan increased marginally by 4.4% year-on-year to 2.530 million tons when matched with the imports of 2.424 million tons during the corresponding period last year. The imports from Japan accounted for 58.1% of the total imports by South Korea during this period. The other leading exporters of ferrous scrap to South Korea during this period were Russia (752,359 tons, 17.3% share), the USA (704,758 tons, 16.2% share), Puerto Rico (45,317 tons, 1% share) and Australia (43,527 tons, 1% share).

The imports from Australia recorded highest jump during Jan-Sep ’16. The imports from the country surged higher by 44.7% over the previous year. On the other hand, imports from the Netherlands declined the most during this period. The scrap imports from the country reported 81.5% year-on-year decline. The other countries to report significant decline in import volumes were Hong Kong (-68.3%) and Dominican Republic (-61.1%).

The table below provides the tonnage of ferrous scrap import by South Korea during the initial nine months of 2016.